The Most Practical and Useful Tourist Visa To Have

A visa is the bane of every traveller’s existence. Applying for a visa is not only stressful and time consuming, it is also costly. But do you know what is the most practical and useful visa to have? This is the same tourist visa that most people have misconception to be the hardest to get. Yes, I’m talking about US tourist visa.

Most people think that a US visa is hard to get but my experience and the other people I know proved to be that as long as you have the right documents and you are legitimately going there for tourism purposes, it is not as hard as what most people think. In fact, getting Schengen Visa is a lot way more stressful with all the documents they are requesting.

A post shared by The Travelling Pinoys (@thetravellingpinoys) on Oct 9, 2016 at 11:02pm PDT

Fewer required documents

Despite being known for the toughest visa processing, US actually only requires you to bring these documents: your passport, printed copy of the DS-160 confirmation page (the application form), visa fee payment receipt, appointment confirmation and your 2X2 photos. Unlike other countries, they actually don’t require you to submit your itinerary, flight reservation, your income and bank statement, ITR, travel insurance, cover letter etc etc. That alone will save you a lot of headache (and money). Although, you can bring these documents just in case the consul asks you for further proof.

2. Longer validity

This depends on each country’s bilateral agreement with the US, but here in the Philippines, the common length of validity of the US visa is 10 years. Some get 5 years I heard, but I don’t know anyone personally who has it. Which makes it more practical especially if you can’t go to US as often as you’d like but you also don’t want to keep applying every time you have to go.

3. On the spot result

If you travel a lot and you often apply for visa, then you are familiar with the stress of the waiting game. I personally hate it when I don’t know if I will receive my passport with visa stamp or a letter of rejection. With US visa, you don’t have to deal with it as they give you the result after your personal interview. Even if you’re rejected, at least you don’t have to deal with the waiting game and can plan your “moving-on-party” straight away.

4. It is cheaper in the long run

I understand that $160 (or around Php7800) is not cheap at all for one visa. But if you will divide that by its validity period, then you will realize it’s cheaper compare to other multiple entry visas like Schengen where you have to pay over Php3000 for less than 6 months validity. Or Canadian visa for almost Php4000 for 3 years. Some countries also requires you to apply for every trip which can be really expensive and time consuming. Plus the extra costs for documents, transportation and other miscellaneous fees every time you have to apply.

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5. US visa will also give you access to other countries

Yes, you heard it right. Although each country has specific visa that you have to apply for, in some countries they will let you in without applying for the visa they require as long as you have your US multiple entry visa. It is called substitute visa and below is the list of the countries where you can also use your US visa.

That’s a total of extra 17 countries where you can use your US multiple entry visa! With all these reasons, US visa, without a doubt, is the most practical and useful visa to have.

Note: I have entered Mexico twice, Belize for 5-7 times, Taiwan and Guatemala once only using my US visa so I can personally vouch for these countries. But as per rule of thumb, always check with the embassy first for entry requirements as visa rules change often.

*These countries are also visa-free for Filipinos.
**Requires an e-visa for FilipinosI included them on the list just in case other nationalities find it useful.

26 COMMENTS

This is a really cool post. I had no idea about the US Visa. I’ve been wanting to travel outside the USA but I keep being reminded there is a lot of beauty right here to be scene. Thank you 🙂 Also beautiful pics.

I’ve been surfing on-line greater than 3 hours as of late, but I by no means discovered any interesting article like yours. It¦s beautiful value enough for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made good content material as you did, the internet will be a lot more useful than ever before.

Well I learned something new today – I never knew other countries would accept a US visa! Thanks for sharing this information, really useful. I pinned it as well so others on Pinterest can find it 🙂 Wish you a great weekend.

This is a travel hack for those who have third world passports like us! It may be more challenging for us to travel in prominent countries, but this shouldn’t stop us from exploring the world. Keep on inspiring, girl!!!

We are lucky to live in a country that has a visa waiver programme with the US so if you’re a tourist and will be visiting for a stay under 90 days you don’t have to go through the visa process. As I hate paperwork it’s a real blessing but it’s interesting to read that if you do need to go through the visa application that it lasts so long so you can make multiple trips over the years without reapplying.

Thanks for sharing this information, I’ve found it easy to travel to the US as Australia is fortunate to be under the visa waiver program, though I then met my now husband and we married, and man the immigration process is a different ball game entirely in terms of visas to work and stay! Even going through that process though, it was a lot easier having all of our documents in order, knowing the requirements having read the instruction booklets inside and out. The government websites offer a lot of information to help, so it’s just about being meticulous in my experience and then playing a waiting game 🙂